Dicky's dirty clothes and tattered shoes often cause him to be the subject of ridicule in his school, where he naturally has trouble fitting in with his rich peers. Even his teachers, with the exception of the kind Miss Yuen (Yuqi), look down on him for being poor. When one of his classmates brings the hottest new high-tech toy—a robotic dog called CJ1—to school, he begs his father for one, but the hefty price tag is well beyond their means.

Trying to appease his son, Ti goes to the dump to find him a new pair of shoes. Instead, he finds a mysterious green orb with an antenna-like appendage near what turns out to be a UFO. At first Dicky doesn't know what to make of the toy, especially after it starts making him see visions that he thinks are ghosts. But when one of those visions includes a galaxy full of stars and aliens, he begins to understand. Shortly thereafter, the orb turns into a friendly little doglike alien.

Dicky names his newly hatched pet CJ7 and dreams of the little guy using magical powers to make him popular in school. But when reality turns out much differently from what he imagined, he gets angry and tries to ditch his new friend in the garbage. Little does he know, though, that CJ7's powers are far greater than Dicky realizes, and he'll soon come to need them when destiny intervenes in a way that could change his life forever.

E.T. meets Bruce Lee

Stephen Chow has been a superstar in his native China for more than a decade, but with the release of films such as Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle, he's beginning to achieve recognition in the English-speaking world as well. And now the Hong Kong auteur is taking a different tack, moving away from the kung-fu comedies he's known for and toward more family-friendly fare with CJ7.

There are actually very few action scenes in the film, which may disappoint some of Chow's fans. The titular CGI character probably has more kung-fu moves than any of the rest of the human characters put together. There are a few computer-enhanced skirmishes here and there, but nothing like the all-out brawls that have come to characterize popular Hong Kong movies. This is a film that relies on its heart rather than its fists.

Much of that heart comes from the relationship between Dicky and his alien friend, which ultimately informs the relationship between Dicky and his father. The creature is cute without ever being cloying or annoying, and by the end it's not hard to form an emotional attachment to the little guy. The story is not exactly complex, nor is it original, but it's executed with skill and just enough pathos to make it interesting for the duration.

When casting the role of Dicky, Chow couldn't find a young boy with all the qualities he needed, so he cast a girl to play his son in the film. But Xu is so utterly believable as a boy that it's impossible to tell the difference. The expressive young actress is especially skilled at pulling faces—whether sad, angry or overjoyed—and manages to give the character a surprisingly boyish charm. As the dedicated father in the story, Chow humbly steps back to let the rest of his characters take the spotlight.

With Chow writing, directing and acting, naturally much of his trademark humor and gift for physical comedy are evident in the film. Some of the gags hit and some miss, but there's a lingering feeling that there's something else going on that the English-speaking audience is missing. It makes you wonder just how much of Chow's wit has been lost in translation.